00:00Hi, I'm Brenna Nath, Vice President of Community Events at Housing Wire. I'm excited to be at
00:12ACUMA in Denver. The theme of the conference is Make Your Mark, and couldn't be a better theme
00:18for who I'm here with. I'm joined by Alyssa Tulloch. She's Executive Vice President and COO
00:23at AmeriQ Credit Union, getting that one right, and just here to talk about what's happening at
00:30the conference, what she's seeing in the space. So just to start off, thank you for joining me.
00:35Thank you for having me. I'm very excited. Some of the foundational elements I think is key to
00:39this conversation is talking a little bit about yourself, you know, your journey into the space,
00:43how you got involved with ACUMA. Can you give a little bit of your backstory? Yeah, so I have
00:48been in credit unions now for 20 years. I don't know how it's possible, but 20 years ago I worked
00:52at a bank and I got recruited to come over to a credit union. I didn't know what credit unions
00:56were, to be honest with you. I just, I had heard of them and, you know, that I thought you needed to
01:01work someplace. And ultimately what I had learned from a friend, a family friend, that they were
01:07looking for someone to start up a secondary market at a credit union. And, you know, I thought that was
01:12very exciting. And I was kind of in a pivotal moment in my career where working at the bank, I just
01:17wasn't sure if I was aligned from my core values anymore with them, because it was always about
01:21making money and not necessarily about the person. And so I went on my interview at the credit union
01:27and one thing that stuck out right away was the cooperative nature that immediately met me at
01:32the door and their philosophies were very, very different. It was all about member and experience
01:37and making sure that the person that you were lending to was ultimately at the center of the
01:45decision versus how much money you could kind of make off from someone. So I found my way to the
01:50credit union 20 years ago to start up a mortgage department and it was so fun. And I've now built
01:57on that for my entire career ultimately. And I started really as, I think my title was like
02:02secondary market specialist. And ultimately here I am now as an executive vice president running,
02:09you know, a $3 billion organization. So it's been a long road fun, but I've had multiple,
02:16multiple connections through ACIMA. The first time I met someone that came in and it was a vendor and
02:21they said, Oh, do you know about ACIMA? It was 20 years ago. And I was like, no, I have no idea what
02:25this is. They said, well, they're having an annual conference in too much. You have to go. And so there
02:30I was, I went and I was blown away when I walked into that first conference and how welcoming every
02:36single person was. You didn't get that when you worked at a bank, when you went to a conference,
02:39it was more about competitive nature. Um, and here everyone was like openly sharing on what you,
02:46you know, needed to do to be successful in this industry. And I was just, I was roped in from
02:51that moment and I haven't missed one since. I'll always take the opportunity to know when someone
02:55has fun and mortgages together. Cause it is true. You can see the energy that you have for this space
02:59and there's so much potential for growing this space. And you're seeing that growth in ACIMA right
03:05now. Like they're having this event itself has record, I'm pretty sure setting attendance.
03:10Yeah. There's almost 700 people here. That's huge. And I think when I first came 20 years ago,
03:14there was maybe a hundred, right? So, uh, sustain, you know, just over time, it's been a wonderful,
03:20um, to be part of it and to see the growth and see how important they are in this space that we work.
03:26What would you attribute some of that growth to? There's been a lot of growth at ACIMA. What would you
03:31want people to know about how that is happening? You kind of dove into it kind of naturally in your
03:36last answer. Yeah. It's honestly, that's a cooperativeness. Everyone is here for the same
03:40reason. And it's people helping people ultimately the philosophy of credit unions. And so when you
03:45come into this environment, whether you are a credit union employee or a vendor that supports credit
03:50unions, everyone wants everyone to succeed. And you feel that the moment you walk into any event that
03:56they host and it's all about educating and helping people, you know, prosper, um, whether it's you as
04:02your own career goals, or if it's your members, you're trying to help or your community, you're
04:06trying to help. It's just, it's, it's such an amazing, um, organization to be a part of.
04:12Yeah. Where does mortgage come into play for that? Because not only are we talking about credit
04:17unions, but we're at a mortgage specific kind of arm channel within the credit union space. You guys
04:22offer a lot more, you're in the mortgage side of it. So why is mortgage still such an essential part
04:28of everything that a credit union offers? We just, we see it as a building wealth ultimately,
04:33right? From a credit union perspective overall, we know that if we focus on, um, helping people
04:39obtain home ownership, you like, it just gets that person in a better financial condition and space.
04:46And it also helps your credit union grow because ultimately if somebody is getting a mortgage with
04:50you, they're, they're more likely to get other products and services with you and look at you
04:55as more of a primary FI. I know that's kind of an outdated term. Um, but I can tell you if when
05:00somebody, they trust you, when they come to you for your mortgage, you see every financial aspect
05:04of their life and you're able, as long as you're able to really, um, help them understand what other
05:10products and services will benefit them. When you see their full financial scope, uh, you know,
05:14it's critical to that, to your credit union to make sure that, that you're helping that member
05:19in every aspect of their life. Homeownership is where it starts in my opinion. Um, you,
05:24you really can help them, you know, it's, it's still an American dream. And I think that I love
05:29being part of that at the credit union. And we do look at that as, as a foundational, um, place that
05:34either if someone comes into our credit union for a mortgage, we want to make sure we help them in
05:37every other aspect of their life. Or if they're there, we want to make sure we get them to become a
05:41homeowner. What would you want the realtor to know about this dynamic? We're kind of diving
05:46in with this conversation into the credit unions, the members, a big part of the housing industry
05:53is that realtor relationship. What would you want them to know? I think it's that, that we have
05:57everything that every other financial institution has, right? So they're used to dealing with a
06:01mortgage broker or maybe a bank. Um, and I think sometimes they think credit unions aren't as
06:06sophisticated and have the products and services. And that is the most insanely wrong thing to ever
06:12imagine. Um, you know, they're, they're a full service mortgage departments at almost every
06:17credit union. And if they don't have it, they have a partner that they refer to. And I would tell you
06:21that they will always have your client at their best interest. And it won't, it will be from a
06:26perspective of making sure that they are in the best financial condition to get the home,
06:32but also to maintain and keep the home. And, um, it's, you know, I think it's a different
06:36approach that some realtors aren't necessarily aware of. Um, but I think the most misnome is that,
06:43that credit unions aren't prepared to have the conversation, the right conversations are the
06:48right loan products. And it's just not accurate. That's a great narrative to, to fix and set the
06:54record kind of straight on what, I mean, we're in September right now we're at the Cuma conferences.
06:59We'll probably post a little bit later, but we are no matter what, still looking ahead at 2026 and
07:04beyond. What are some of the takeaways themes that you're noticing in this room or what just has you
07:09excited about the future with whether that's credit unions or Cuma, what's going on in housing?
07:15What, what are you looking forward to ahead? I think my biggest takeaway so far at this event is,
07:20you know, we're, we're kind of at a divide in the country politically. Right. And everyone
07:24is very concerned about what does that mean for housing, um, just in general. And I think what has
07:31like just screamed at me is like, don't, don't get caught in the noise, you know, maintain your,
07:38our approach as credit unions to help the member and help the member grow wealth and become homeowners
07:42with that also is look at ways that we can partner with, um, other institutions or, um,
07:48other housing agencies to help with maybe down payment assistance. If we do see funding cut,
07:53who knows what's going to happen? Um, to me, it's like, if we have, you know, uh, a duty where we
07:59are all about helping people to figure out how can we come together and maybe, you know,
08:06solve for some of these issues that are being more challenged from, um, maybe in a political
08:11environment that, that, that people don't have any control over. Um, you know, I think one speaker
08:15had said to us, you come in where the funding is going to dry up. If you really want to help
08:21put people into homes, maybe you create an independent program amongst multiple credit
08:27unions come together and create down payment assistance programs that you fund. I think
08:31those are the things that to me make me really excited because we can do that. We have the
08:36opportunity to give back in those ways, um, and not have to continuously rely on outside sources.
08:42And I think it's important for us to collectively cooperatively do that.
08:47Yeah. That kind of goes back to what I've been hearing through this interview is when you come
08:50to ACUMA, what I'm noticing with the people here is there's this openness to like,
08:54how can we work together? Even in your answers, like we can come together and help the member
08:59who is, you know, trying to get a home, trying to take that next step in their life. So that's,
09:03I appreciate the exciting board look, appreciate you sitting down with me, um, and hope everyone
09:08stays tuned. Thank you so much.
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